The release date

Image copyrightLegendary EntertainmentImage caption
The game sees players exploring a vast landscape, complete quests and interact with other gamers

The opening coincided with the Dragon Boat Festival, a public holiday across China, so the potential audience was vast.

It did face competition - X-Men: Apocalypse, the Angry Birds Movie and Tim Burton's Alice Through the Looking Glass were the other main Hollywood flicks showing in China. But none could touch the appeal of Warcraft.

The publicity drive

The studio behind the movie, Legendary Entertainment, was earlier this year acquired by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda for $3.5bn.

But has the movie peaked?

It all points to the growing importance of the Chinese cinema-going public. China's box office is expected be the world's largest by next year, according to one report this weekend , surpassing the US.

Hollywood actor Jackie Chan recently told the Shanghai Film Festival that the success of Warcraft had "scared" Americans.

"If we can make a film that earns 10bn [yuan] then people from all over the world who study film will learn Chinese, instead of us learning English."